Kick-off Returns; Conn

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Mickey,

It seemed that most Clemson football team's kickoff returns did not get to the 25-yard line last season. Does anyone in the Clemson football office have that stat? If this is so, with the new rule next year for kickoff returns in college football, wouldn't Clemson be wise to fair catch every kickoff next year to start at the 25-yard line?. This especially hurt Clemson against Alabama last season. What are your thoughts?

David

David,

Believe me when I tell you that they not only have that stat, but they have film on every kick off return for this program. They also have studied film on every opponent. Finally, they have studied every return scheme they can get their hands on. The point is if we talk about it, it has been analyzed and over-analyzed by this staff.

Here is the big picture question, would you risk the average starting position of the 25-yard line in order to maybe break a big return?

Last season they returned 28 kickoffs. They averaged starting at the 23.3-yard line. Would you risk giving up 1.7 yards per attempt to get the opportunity to return one to the house or to get a deep one in the opponent’s territory? To me, that is the question.

Mickey,

Are you surprised that we have not been able to secure many commitments from Grayson High School since Mickey Conn joined the Tigers staff?

Maybe we have not offered many of these young men…..but seems like a lot of D 1 talent has committed to other schools.

Thanks for the insight.

Bobby

Bobby,

Not really. These guys were freshmen when he was there and most probably never really played for him. Also, there is so much turnover in high school coaching nowadays, mainly because of they are underpaid. I wonder how many coaches there now were on his staff?

Clemson did offer a couple of the players in this class, but what has become a significant factor is Georgia is the emergence of 7-on-7 squads. It’s almost like AAU basketball.

Conn was hired here because he is an excellent football coach, not to have a pipeline to Grayson.

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